Method oe removing or discharging the dust



nNiTnD sTATns v PATENT Norriroi.

THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, OF ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT.

METHOD 0F REMOVING 0R DISOHARGING THE DUsT, METALLIC PARTICLES, aw., PRODUCED DURING THE OPERATION for GRIN-DING.

Specification of Letters PatentNo. 3,105, `dated MayQG, 1843.

To all whom z' may concern Be it known that I, THADDEUS FAIRBANKs, of St. Johnsbury, in the county of vCaledonia and State of Vermont, have vinvented Aa certain new or improved method of removing or discharging the dust or mineral or metallic particles produced during the operation of grinding cutlery or other articles, or, in other words, of preventing to a great extent if not entirely the well-known deleterious effects of said dust upon the lungs and health of the operatives who are usually employed in occupations of grinding or polishing metals, and that the following spec1- ication, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, constitutes a full and exact description of the said invention.

Many methods have been devised for preventing the noxious effects, on workmen, of the fine dust or metallic particles produced during the process of grinding or polishing cutlery and other articles. lt is well known that continued inhalation of these particles by operatives, generally produces aections of the lungs or other diseases. Masks of line gauze or wire work, magnets and various other means have been resorted to, but all have failed to produce the ends desired. That which is most generally employed consists in forcing a blast of air through a pipe, or a series of pipes, and against the revolving stone or wheel, or into a case or box partially surrounding the wheel; the case having a pipeor air duct extending therefrom, through which the metallic particles or dust are propelled by the action of the blast of air. The description of an apparatus of this kind may be found by reference to the Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines, by Andrew Ure, M. D., second edition, pages 881 and 882. My invention, which is an improvement thereon, is represented in the drawings, making part of my specification, of which- Figure l, exhibits a top view of a grinding wheel and the mechanism connected therewith for effecting the object hereinbefore mentioned. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 8, Vis a vertical and longitudinal section of the same, and Fig. 4, is a transverse vertical section taken through* the blowing apparatus.

A, Figs. 1, 2, '3, 4, denotes the grinding wheel mounted upon a horizontal arbor and revolved in the usual manner. A casing or box B extends about the lower Vhalf of this i arranged at a suitableV distance from thef sides and periphery of the wheel, in order to forman air passage A, which opens at its top, directly into the atmosphere surrounding the wheel, and communicates at its lower end with the exhaust pipe or conduit C of a blowing apparatus which is represented in the drawings, by a wheel D, revolving within a case E, the said blowing apparatus being constructed in all respects like those in ordinary use. When the wheel of the blower is put in revolution itV causes the atmospheric air, in contact with or around the grinding wheel, .to rush or be drawn with great rapidity through the air passage A, and from thence through the conduit C, into the interior of the case E, from whence it is expelled through the exit opening F or pipe thereof. The current of air thus createdin the vicinity of the grinding wheel flows freely in all directions toward the aperture of the casing B, and, rushing into. the same, carries off with it whatever abradedparticles or dust may be produced, and so com-v pletely is the process of removal Vof the` l same effected, that the difculties experi-j enced by the grinders are almost entirely if not completely obviate'd. Then a series of liets of air are blown against a wheel, they seldom remove other than those particlesl with which they are brought into immediate f contact, and do not prevent more or less particles from being thrown beyond their sphere of action, which, floating inthe at` mosphere, are more or less drawn into t-he lungs and air passages of the grinder." By my improvement all the air in the Vvicinity of the wheel is put in motion toward the same, and whatever particles of metal fork dust are evolved, arecompletely or so perfectly drawn away by the large current thus formed, that no deleterious consequences can result from them. i I do not claim removing the` dust or 'meico tallic particles (produced duringV the operation of grinding), by means of a `current of air forced through the exit pipe of a blast apparatus and against the exterior surface of the grinding wheel, or into a casing or 'box partially surrounding the wheel, but

That which Ido claim- Consists in ymy improved arrangement of the blast apparatus with .respect to the grinding wheel, that is to say, in connecting the exhaust pipe or conduit of a blowing apparatus directly with the box or case under, or which partially surrounds the revolving grinding wheel, so as to cause the external atmosphere around or in the vicinity of the Wheel to be drawn in Contact with the wheel or between it and the sides of the case which partially encompasses it, and from thence through the exhaustl pipe or conduit into Ithe blowing apparatus, from which latter the said air, together with such metallic particles or dust accompanying it7 are (lis- 

